(Closed) Pro-ANA—- Anorexia pro-websites—Dr. Oz

did any of you watched Dr. Oz yesterday? I was horrified! They showed some websites that have this PRO-ANA movement to promote anorexia and there are pictures for “motivation” there! They showed the stories of 2 anorexic girls and 2 teen that are following the website!

Dr. oz also interviewed the guy that has the most popular website and I just wanted to grab him by the neck! He was saying that he is helping people with anorexia because there they can talk aboutit! But these poor girls are just sharing ways of getting skinnier!!!!!!!

I have known about these for some time–I used to be anorexic–in college I did a presentation on Pro-Ana websites—-I think that it is a classic example of why group therapy is often a dangerous option for eating disordered individuals as they only reinforce eachothers skewed mindset

I’ve known about them for years…very sad stuff. This whole dangerous group mindset thing is also very evident on Tumblr. The anorexic girls’ blogs on there all look pretty much identical…it’s a bit bizarre. If you look at any anorexic girl’s tumblr, it’s pretty much guaranteed to:

-be in black and white

-consist primarily of thinspiration photos, photos of ballerinas, photos related to cutting and/or suicide, photos of quotes, and the occasional Lady Gaga photo (why Gaga, I have no idea)

-contain info about the person’s weight, height, and BMI (some keep a running tally of their weight, others just post their all-time low or their goal weight)

-contain a trigger warning and a disclaimer about how those in recovery should stay away from their blog, that they do not promote or recommend unhealthy weightloss, and that thei are notpro-ana/pro-mia

-have an “about me” section (I’ve found that many of these girls grew up in dysfunctional homes, and many have experienced some sort of sexual assault)

They seem to feed off each other and get sicker and sicker. It’s awful.

Admittedly during my period of very low self esteem, I would go on these. I subscribed to many, copied many of their tips and tricks, started exercise regimes (which are fairly intense).

But it felt so alien and abnormal. It felt wrong even THINKING about starving myself, or exercising for 4 hours without any food.

I feel disgusted at the thought of even ever contemplating the idea of following their advice. Thankfully I’m over all of that now. It’s not healthy, these girls are sick and I wish they could see it and seek help.

Yeah, they’re everywhere. I can’t even log into my old Tumblr because thats basically what it is. ThingsThatShine: basically described it to a ‘T’.

It’s sad sure, but to some girls that is their life. People honestly believe that is beautiful and I was guilty of that for a long, long time. I still find myself typing in “Tum” into my damn url bar, but I have to catch myself.

“They seem to feed off each other and get sicker and sicker.” Truer words have never been said.

i remember stumbling upon one of those site in high school by accident like 12 years ago. some of the stuff on there was truly distubing. there was a lot on the site about how overcritical mothers drove these girls to be “beautiful.”

it made me really thankful for the loving, supportive mother i had. i have had weight issues my whole life, but my mother never made me feel her love was dependent on my pant size.